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The hits

Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)

A graduate of the famous Class of 92, Giggs actually made his league debut for Manchester United as a 17-year-old in a 2-0 defeat against Everton in March 1991.

Despite his early rise to fame, Giggs continued to captain the United youth team in the 1991/92 season and led them to glory in the FA Youth Cup as his presence in the club's first team soon grew.

And by the time the riches of the Premier League came around for the following campaign, the young Welshman had already enjoyed League Cup success in what was to be a very early sign of things to come for the man who is now the league's most decorated player.

Undoubtedly one of, if not the greatest players in the Premier League era.

Ryan Giggs makes his Manchester United debut against Everton

Gareth Bale (Southampton)

Only two goals off Ian Rush's record tally of 28 goals for Wales and previously the world's most expensive player, Bale is quite simply the biggest hit of them all.

It all started with the gangly left-footer becoming Southampton's second youngest ever player when he featured in the Saints' 2-0 win against Millwall in April 2006.

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And that proved to be the beginning of a truly rapid rise for the Welsh talisman who made his Wales debut the following month in a 2-1 win against Trinidad and Tobago.

A move to Tottenham, a world record switch to Real Madrid, two Champions League titles, a Copa del Rey, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cups and a historic run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 later, Bale has more than justified his early tag as a Welsh wonderkid. And then some.

Gareth Bale pictured making his Wales debut

Craig Bellamy (Norwich City)

Bellamy came on to the scene at Norwich City during the latter stages of the 1996/97 Premier League season - but it was in the following campaign where he really started to hit the headlines.

His first goal for the Canaries came in a 2-2 draw with Bury but only three months later he was to receive the first red card of his career.

Such was the youngster's impact at Carrow Road, he was handed a Wales debut against Jamaica in March 1998 at the age of 19 and went on to score one of the most famous goals in Welsh football history when he bagged the winner in a famous 2-1 win over Italy in 2001.

He enjoyed successful spells with a host of clubs, most notably Celtic and Liverpool, and helped Cardiff City reach the promised land of the Premier League in 2013 before ending his career with his beloved Bluebirds. A true star of Wales.

Craig Bellamy started his pro career at Norwich

Aaron Ramsey (Cardiff City)

Another, like Bale, who has been able to enjoy success on the international stage as a key member of Welsh football's golden generation.

His talents were clear for all to see from a young age, so much so that Cardiff made him their youngest ever player at the age of 16 when he came on for the dying stages of their 1-0 Championship defeat to Hull in April 2007.

Ramsey continued to live up to his billing as a huge talent and, when a host of football giants came sniffing for his services, a switch to Arsenal was secured in June 2008.

An extra-time strike from Rambo at Wembley in 2014 secured the first of Arsenal's back-to-back FA Cup triumphs while his blistering performances, and blonde hair, at Euro 2016 cemented Ramsey's place as a true star of the current generation.

Aaron Ramsey in action for Wales u21s against France in November 2011

The misses

Ramon Calliste (Manchester United)

Snapped up by Manchester United's youth academy, Calliste was tipped as the next big thing - even being dubbed the new Ryan Giggs.

The Fitzalan High student was ranked 87th in a list of 100 best young players across football by Spanish sports magazine Don Balon in 2001 and went on to make four appearances under Brian Flynn for Wales' under-21 side.

Cardiff prodigy Ramon Calliste with his family as he is welcomed to Manchester United FC by Sir Alex Ferguson

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But his career nose-dived to such an extent that he is now more traditionally the subject of a tough quiz question after becoming the first played to join Liverpool from the Red Devils since the 1960s.

Calliste, now 30, never played a professional game during his career and most recently played county football for West London Saracens.

“What happened? Only he could answer that question,” says Brian Flynn, Calliste’s former Wales Under 21 manager who, reacted with a mixture of surprise and sadness at news Calliste never made it at all.

Cardiff-born whizz-kid Ramon Calliste in action for Wales Under 21s in 2006

Ryan Green (Wolves)

Green broke Ryan Giggs' record to become the youngest ever Wales international in 1998, making his debut against Malta at the age of 17 years and 226 days before playing a senior club game.

Bobby Gould also selected him against Tunisia, his second and final cap, but his career never hit the heights perhaps expected at that time.

Giggs would go on to describe Green's introduction as 'a typical Gould stunt', and he failed to forge a career at the very top.

He has, however, played for Torquay, Millwall, Cardiff City, Sheffield Wednesday and Merthyr Town. He currently plays for Hereford.

Ryan Green captained Merthyr Town

Leon Jeanne (Queens Park Rangers)

Former England international Peter Crouch once dubbed him as "the most talented player I have ever played with".

But Jeanne, who played for Cardiff City during the 2001/02 campaign, was sentenced to 30-months in prison last year for his role in a drugs plot.

The Cardiff-born midfielder was part of a gang that operated from Gloucester and surrounding cities to sell crack cocaine, cannabis and heroin.

"You wasted your talent and turned from an honest, athletic man to a common criminal. You've been ruined by drugs," Judge Neil Ford QC said of the former Wales' under-21 international during his sentencing.

Jeanne, now 35, was last playing for Evesham at the start of this season

Leon Jeanne during his Cardiff City days

Daniel Nardiello (Manchester United)

A man who is still firmly involved in the Welsh game and is regularly finding the back of the net with Welsh Premier League outfit Bangor City.

But the Coventry-born striker, who qualified to play for Wales through his father, was destined for the heights of the Premier League shortly after the turn of the millennium during his time at Manchester United's youth academy.

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Originally a product of Wolves' youth system, Nardiello's potential earned him a switch to Red Devils where he failed to make a single first team appearance before spells with Swansea City, Barnsley and QPR where he started to earn his stripes.

His one and only cap came against New Zealand in May 2007 - but, with his early promise, so much more was expected from the man now plying his trade in north Wales.

Daniel Nardiello at Manchester United in June 1999

Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)

Three appearances for Wales' under-19s in 1998 had fans licking their lips at the prospect of seeing Hargreaves, whose mother was born in Wales, feature at the heart of the Welsh midfield for years to come.

The Canada-born star had been making waves in the Bayern Munich academy - so much so that he was poached by England in 2000 and went on to pledge his international career to the Three Lions.

Hargreaves went on to enjoy a glittering career at club level with the German giants and Manchester United - but it's merely a case of what could have been if the midfielder had stuck to the red of Wales on the international stage.

And there will undoubtedly will comparisons to Liverpool hotshot Woodburn following reports of interest from over the border.